Survey instrument



Jan. 19, 1954 c. J. BORKOWSKI SURVEY INSTRUMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 16, 1947 V Pu/se Circuit 3mm (as/me!" J Borkowsk/ Jan. 19, 1954 c. J. BORKOWSKI ,666,

SURVEY INSTRUMENT Filed May 16, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 19, 1954 c. J. B ORKOWSKI SURVEY INSTRUMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 16, 1947 INVENTOR.

Cos/fiver J Borkaw Patented Jan. 19, 1954 SURVEY INSTRUMENT Casimer J. Borkowski, Oak Ridge, Tenn., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Application May 16, 1947, Serial No. 748,433

2 Claims. (01. 313-93) My invention relates to radiation detection, and survey equipment, and more particularly to a pulse type of survey instrument for detecting the presence of alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays, and slow and fast neutrons, and

containers, and the like.

rapid surveys possible.

activity.

struments.

annexed claims.

which facilitates rapid survey of surfaces, tools, 5 my improved survey instrument.

Gas amplification in a proportional counter is In the prior art it has been the practice to a function of the voltage on its center wire; survey areas or points of contamination with therefore, it would be desirable to use in the direct current ion chamber instruments. Pulse counter a polyatomic gas like methane which type alpha survey instruments have several inexhibits stable gas amplification essentially ext i i advantages over D. C. ion chamber inponential with voltage across the counter. How struments; their response is faster thus making ever, counters filled with this gas and covered They are more sensitive with a thin nylon window transparent to alpha since each alpha particle is heard, and they 5 particles rapidly change their characteristics due make possible the detection of low levels of alpha to the slow diffusion of the gas through the thin activity in the presence of high beta and gamma membrane.

to use air at atmospheric pressure as the counter Due to the high amplifier gain requir d and gasattendant microphonics, pulse ion chambers increases extremely rapidly with voltage on the have been found impractical as alpha survey in- Center Wire, it is ces y to a 3 1 s e- Since the proportional counter may bilized high voltage supply and a reproducible be used with an amplifier of much lower gain, m a f se g t Ope a voltage on the microphony is negligible and an alpha survey Cou ter. pulse counter of this type is quite feasible. While the probe Coupled directly t0 the p Applicant with a knowledge of these problems fier exhi its a much flat er p r ng hara has for n object f hi i v tio the provision teristic when the center Wire voltage is plotted of an alpha survey probe which is a proportional against relative counting rate than when it is type pulse counter sensitive to individual alpha Connected t rou a Cable, it has been found to particles, and which operates in air at atmosbe t y satisfactory to p y t a er 11 pheric pressure with instantaneous response. Orthodox yp of Coupling In this W y a more Applicant has as another object or" his inven- Compact fOI'm of p o ca be ade Since it tion the provision of a survey instrument whereeliminates the necessity for mfiluhtihg the fi in alpha contamination can be detected in the amplifier stage 011 the p be. presence of high beta and gamma backgrounds. Referring to the drawings in detail, an elon- Applicant has as a further object of his ingated hollow cylindrical body portion 13 has a vention the provision of a survey instrument longitudinal slot l8 therein. The edges of the employing interchangeable, compact, non-microslot are grooved fo t reception o he d e phonic probes for the detection of alpha parof a slide or frame 2. To prevent the ingress of ticles, slow and fast neutrons, beta particles and dirt and mo tu e to t bo y. a t n mgamma radiations, by changing the operating brane l of suitable material, such as 0.2 mil potential to correspond to the selected probe. nylon, is cemented or otherwise secured to one Other objects and advantages of my invention face of the brass frame 2. will appear from the following specification and out metal screen mesh 8 is soldered or otherwise accompanying drawings and the novel features ecured o the pp face of the slidethereof will be particularly pointed out in the this way the slide may be inserted in or removed from the body portion by simply sliding in the In the drawings, Fig. l is a schematic of the o e 19- system employing my improved survey instrusubstituted for the one removed. ment for the detection of radiations. Fig. 2 is The chamber formed in body t is of the proa perspective of my improved survey instrument portional counter type with the metal inclosure with the slot or window extending upwardly. being preferably 1 /2 inches in diameter and the Fig. 3 is a perspective of the same instrument slot therein being about 1 inch in width. The in normal operative position, with the window perforated metal shields inserted over the nylon extending downwardly. Fig. 4 is a partial secscreen serve to vary the geometry factor and tional view of the same instrument taken along the line 44 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective of the same instrument with the various elements pulled apart in spaced relation. Fig. 6 is a sectional detail view of a modified form of It was found necessary, therefore,

Since the gas amplification factor of air A highly transpar- Also other slides or frames may be thereby permit the detection of various sources having a wide range of counts.

The cable It connecting the probe to the amplifier 20 must have a dielectric of high volume resistivity and low surface leakage characteristics. Certain commercial types of concentric conductor cable having polyethylene insulation have been found satisfactory for this purpose, and A; inch conductors with solid or semi-solid dielectric have been successfully used.

A fine tungsten wire 9 of about 1 mil size is coaxially mounted in the body 4 on suitable insulators 3, 2|. extension which threads into an opening in one end of body 4 while insulator 2| is carried by connector receptacle [2 which is mounted on the other end of body -'l by means of. screws ii that pass through openings in the flange of receptacle l2 and seat in the wall of body 4. Wire 9passes through a hook extension on insulator 3 and is twisted about the hook. Solder may be applied to the hook to act as an additional holding means. The opposite end of wire 9 is joined to insulator 2| through anchor H and spring H3. The connector 12 has a socket for the reception of the contacts on plug I3. It will be understood that the central contact 1? acts as the conductor for the central wire 9 while the outer shell acts as a conductor for the body 4. Insulator M is interposed between them. Screws !5 serve to maintain parts of the plug in assembled relation, 5 is.

a nipple which screws in plug it and engages contact 17, and t is an adjusting nut. The handle 7, preferably of lucite material, is threaded onto the nipple 5 and is locked in position by the nut 6. Cable l6 passes through a bore in handle 7 so that the inner conductor is electrically connected through the nipple 5 to the contact I"! and the outer conductor is connected to the plug l3 through nipple 5. It will be understood that the two parts of the nipple mentioned above are insulated from each other. Other appropriate types of connectors may be used, provided adequate insulation, such as polystyrene dielectric with long leakage paths is employed.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the probe A is connected to amplifier 26 through cable I6, and the amplifier feeds a pulse circuit 22 which is coupled into head phones or a speaker 23. When the probe A is moved over a contaminated area, the loud speaker or head phones pop. At low levels of activity only a few pops are produced, but at increasingly higher levels of contamination, a continuous sound is heard whose frequency rises with increased contamination.

Since the loud speaker. response is instantaneous and since the ear can readily distinguish relative order of contamination from the frequency, it is possible to make rapid surveys by moving the probe quickly over objects and surfaces; The use of a rate meter is optional as the loud speaker indicates areas which must be decontaminated. However, where a record of the contamination must be made, a rate meter mounted on the panel or the handle of the probe indicates the magnitude of alpha activity.

The amplifier 20 is conventional and is preferably a three stage amplifier employing pentode tubes biased to operate non-linearly. The pulse or rate meter circuit 22 may be of the type employing a thyratron such as is disclosed in the copending application of C. R. Marsh, SenNo. 56,847, which. matured into. Patent No. 2,550,488,

and the power supply and loud speaker circuits Insulator 3 has a threaded are conventional. None of these elements, however, form any part of my invention.

Various sizes of probes of the type shown in Fig. 3 are applicable. Probe diameters from onequarter inch to one and one-half inch may be used. The one-fourth diameter probe is useful for detecting contamination in small diameter vessels like test tubes and centrifuge cones. Without any covering over the face of this probe, alpha particles of 3.? cm. range can be detected when the probe face is 3.5 cm. away from the source. No covering is usually used on this size probe. For routine surveys the 1 /2 inch probe has been found most useful.

Since the background of an uncontaminated probe is about one pop per minute, very low intensities of alpha activity can be detected. Thus all parts of the hands, face, or clothing can be scanned rapidly, and the contamination, if present as a point source, can be localized to an area one-half inch square.

With a six mesh highly transparent brass screen covered with nylon over the face of the probe, alpha activities from a few disintegrations per minute to 100,000 disintegrations per minute can be readily measured. If it is neces sary to determine quantitatively higher levels of alpha activity than this, a screen of lower transparency can be inserted into the probe, thus reducing the geometry. With a suitable screen activity up to 10 disintegrations per minute can be measured.

Because of the light weight and compact design of the probe it is possible to survey balance pans, hood walls, interiors of centrifuges, test tubes, laundry, glassware, drawers, and many other places previously found inaccessible for alpha survey. The alpha probe itself is not microphonic, but single pulses can be obtained when the cable is struck a sharp blow or is dragged too briskly. These pulses are due to electrostatic charges generated in the dielectric and are common to all dielectrics tested: polyethylene, polystyrene, and rubber. In practice however, the cable noise is inconsequential.

The modification of Fig. 6, used for beta and gamma detection, is similar to that previously described in connection with alpha particle detection. The body portion 6 has a partition therein dividing the chamber into two parts. The inner-conductor 5 is preferably a 1 mil tungsten wire supported by insulators 2, 2 of Pyrex glass. One of the insulators is mounted in the wall of the partition and a conductor 8' serves to join the inner-conductor 5' to a connector I mounted on thebody 6' of the probe by appropriate screws 9. which pass through the flange and thread into the body 6'. Bridging the partition and one end of the body 6 and covering the slot in the body, to provide a sealed chamber, is a foil strip i of 1 milaluminum foil. Mounted on the outside of the foil strip is a protective strip 3 maintained thereon by screws H3 which pass through the screen and thread into the body 8'. A plug T threaded into one end of the body 6' serves as a valve to permit communication with the chamber defined or enclosed by body 6. In this way methane or other gas or vapor may be fed to the chamber and sealed therein by turning the threaded plug 1 to open, close or restrict the orifice. manner very much like that previously described in connection with other modifications, since the plug'isgrounded on thecase. In this and other arrangements the body 6 is at ground potential Connections are made to the cable in a constituting a shield. The screen tends to maintain uniformity of the electric field about the central conductor. The central conductor 5' is usually maintained at high potential.

Slow neutrons are detected with a boron coated cylindrical chamber 1 inches, outside diameter, and 10 inches long. The chamber is filled to one atmosphere with methane and operates as a proportional counter with a one mil tungsten center wire. The operating voltage is about 2400 volts. The chamber is connected to the cable and amplifier, and at the proper adjustment of the operating voltage the chamber should be sensitive to a slow neutron source but insensitive to a gamma source whose intensity is somewhat higher than the maximum anticipated in the survey.

Fast neutrons are detected with the same chamber by simply slipping over it a cylindrical cadmium can, the inside of which is lined with one inch of paraffin or polyethylene.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A survey instrument of the character described comprising an elongated hollow metal casing, a conductor disposed within and insulated from the casing, a window in said casing for exposing the conductor to external electrical influences, an open frame slidably positioned over said window, a shield of thin porous material carried by said frame and enclosing it for resisting the ingress of contamination, and a metal mesh mounted on said frame and substantially co-extensive with said shield for preserving substantial uniformity of electrical field about the conductor.

2. A proportional type pulse counter comprising an elongated hollow metal casing defining a chamber, a conductor disposed within the casing and extending lengthwise thereof, said conductor being insulated therefrom, a window extending longitudinally of the casing for exposing the conductor to external electrical influences and to permit the passage of air, mounting means slidably carried by the casing and extending along the window, a shield of thin porous material mounted on said mounting means and extending across said window for reducing the ingress of contamination, and a metal grating extending along said shield to cover the window for cooperation with the casing to preserve substantial uniformity of the electrical field about the conductor, said grating including a series of uniformly spaced metal strands.

CASIMER J. BORKOWSKI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name v Date 2,161,979 Rovner June 13, 1939 2,465,821 Smoluchowski Mar. 29, 1949 2,532,956 Simpson Dec. 5, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Korfi, Electron and Nuclear Counters, Theory and Use, D. Van Nostrand Co., April 1946, pp. 129, 130. 

